Accepted
by Midwich Cuckoo
Summary: TCP. A mutant girl is fortunate enough to avoid being bullied by her schoolmates.


**Disclaimer: I make no financial profit by writing this; it's written for pure entertainment only. The characters belong to me, unlike the world of the X-men.**

**Beta: Moviemom44**

"**Accepted"**

I'm a mutant, yet I've had the good fortune to be among those who aren't constantly teased. This is actually quite surprising, considering the kind of people who attend my school. Silly, shallow-minded girls whose major interest is taking care of their looks. I actually did happen to hear some nasty comments from some of them, but I don't care much.

It's not really about my mutation, which I could mask from others if I cared to; it's more about a difference as such between myself and the other girls. After all, it's not like I'm the only girl in our school who is a bit different. Lindsey Wright, for example, is very obese. Hormonal issues. And there's gossip about Megan Taylor being a lesbian. She doesn't admit it but everybody knows. Well, I don't follow the commonly accepted pattern of what a girl should be, like my school mates do, either. Nevertheless, I can say that in spite of some nasty comments already mentioned by me, I'm generally rather liked, especially by girls because they are more tolerant than boys.

I'm not very popular, maybe, but it's not like I care that much. I'm quite a loner. It's those popular girls who especially seem to like me; quite an interesting paradox. It's not a one hundred percent requited feeling on my part, to be honest. They are nice, yet so silly, uninterested in anything more serious than going to parties and prettifying themselves. They do keep me at a bit of a distance – I don't fit in with them, after all – though they are quite nice and that's what matters. They talk with me, like I was really one of them. Especially, to be honest, when they need something from me.

There is a small circle of popular girls in our school – Cathy, Tiffany, Melanie, Alex, Gina and Ashley. Every boy wants to date them. Everybody wants to go to their parties. I quite like them, even if they are not particularly smart and know nothing about things more interesting than all that trivial stuff. They are nice, even if a bit shallow. I don't tell them this, of course, I just enjoy the fact that representatives of the school elite pay any attention to me at all.

Recently I was returning from a music lesson when suddenly I saw some girls were waving at me. I took a closer look only to recognize Gina with a friend of hers that I didn't know.

"Hey, look, it's Shelby, we told you about her" – said Gina to that other girl, all excited.

It's nice to know that you are liked in spite of your difference. Gina looked really great. Maybe she isn't too smart but there is that one thing she and all her friends are good at-prettifying herself. She was tanned, with colorful nails and painted hair. She changes the color of her hair very often. I remember at the beginning of this school year she was a blonde. Later her fair hair turned brown with lighter streaks. For some time later she had her hair eccentrically dyed violet but her parents hated it so she changed the color to black. Now she was wearing her long wavy hair loose and it was dyed dark ginger which looked really cool. Gina and this other girl who turned out to be her cousin and whose name was Melanie, were very nice to me then. She even invited me to her party. Imagine that! I turned her down though; I knew she only wanted to be nice, asking me to the party. She always gets especially nice when she wants something from me. I knew her and I knew what she wanted from me again. She got bored with her hair color again and wanted me to help her. This is the reason the girls from my school don't tease me. My mutant power is a pretty minor one, nevertheless a very useful one when it comes to my schoolmates. I am capable of changing the color of stuff. And it concerns also people's hair, eyes, complexion and nails via a mere touch. It's nothing really special nor useful in the grand scheme of things, I suppose, but well, the girls I serve with my power-at least accept me, thanks to my gift.


End file.
